


We Were Born to Run

by Thegracefulnerd



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Abuse, Homophobia, I know Richie's parents aren't assholes in canon but, M/M, TW HOMOPHOBIC LANGUAGE, tw abuse mention, tw f slur, tw homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-10-20 23:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20683541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thegracefulnerd/pseuds/Thegracefulnerd
Summary: It was no secret that Sonia Kaspbrack was a violent homophobe. She made it clear her thoughts on "fags" as she so endearingly referred to them, and vehemently denied anyone’s accusation that her son may be one of those "fags". She knew Eddie seemed… effeminate in his attire and build, but she stubbornly ignored any indication that her son could be anything but straight. So, knowing all of this, Eddie wondered frantically just how he would be able to keep his relationship with Richie a secret from her.





	We Were Born to Run

**Author's Note:**

> So, I wrote this way back after Ch. 1 came out, and I'm just NOW getting around to publishing it. I don't think I ever planned on publishing it, but after Ch. 2 came out and we were given... everything... I just had to. No spoilers for ch. 2, I didn't do a lot of revision- just tweaked it a bit. Hope you enjoy :) feedback is always appreciated.

It was no secret that Sonia Kaspbrak was a violent homophobe. She made it clear her thoughts on "fags" as she so endearingly referred to them, and vehemently denied anyone’s accusation that her son may be one of those "fags". She knew Eddie seemed… effeminate in his attire and build, but she stubbornly ignored any indication that her son could be anything but straight. So, knowing all of this, Eddie wondered frantically just how he would be able to keep his relationship with Richie a secret from her.

At first it had been easy enough; Richie would sneak in through Eddie's propped open window when Eddie's mother fell asleep and he would leave before she woke up. It was an efficient system. Every date they went on, and every time they stayed at the quarry or down in the barrens too long, Eddie told his mother that he had been with all of the losers and that he'd lost track of time. Things became more difficult once Richie started leaving hickeys on Eddie's neck and collarbones. Eddie usually told Richie to leave them in inconspicuous places, which Richie usually did, but sometimes they both got a little too carried away. There had been a few occasions where Eddie was forced to wear shirts with high collars and beg Bev to help him cover the remaining hickeys up with makeup.

But, for the most part, it had all worked up until now. Richie had stayed over last night, and things had gotten heated to say the least. It caused them to oversleep as Eddie was sleeping peacefully in Richie's arms; until Eddie's alarm went off for school. The two boys woke up in a mutual panic knowing Eddie's mother would be up the steps and knocking on Eddie's door any second. Richie had stumbled out of the bed, grabbed his clunky glasses off Eddie's bedside table and climbed out of his window and down the drainpipe. This would've worked perfectly, except Richie was wearing nothing but his boxers and glasses and he was covered from neck to chest in Eddie's handiwork from last night's activities. And Richie's shirt and pants were still laying on the floor mixed with Eddie's own clothing.

"Eddie! Eddie dear, come on you're going to be late for school!" Eddie's mother yelled.

"Coming mom!" Eddie yelled. He frantically stashed Richie's clothes under his bed and grabbed a shirt from a pile of clothing in his floor. He cringed at how disgusting the shirt must be, covered in another day's sweat and deodorant and probably a good deal of Richie. But Eddie had no time to find clean clothes. He stepped into a pair of shorts and grabbed his bag from beside his desk and darted out of his bedroom and down the steps.

"Eddie!" His mother shrieked.  


Eddie froze, wondering if she had spotted the hickeys covering a good portion of Eddie's upper body.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" She told him disapprovingly.

He nodded and kissed her on the cheek quickly. Ben was already outside in his car waiting on Eddie to come on. He ran out to the car and threw open the passenger side door.

"Drive Hanscom."

"Woah what happened to you?" Ben asked, humor dancing in his tone. Eddie shot Ben a glare but stayed silent. He pulled down the visor and flipped open the mirror to inspect the damage Richie did to his neck.

"Dammit," Eddie cursed.

"Ah, so Richie stayed over last night," Ben said.

"Yes. He did. I need to borrow your girlfriend for first period. If anyone sees these, I'm dead."

Ben just nodded understandingly and smiled, "Of course. She's happy to help you two lovebirds."

Eddie made a face of disgust, “Don’t call us that."

"Why not?"

"It makes us sound like a sappy hetero couple from 1955.”

Ben laughed, "Ok fine. No lovebirds."

"Good."

~  


"Holy Christ did you two maul each other?" Beverly asked incredulously.

"I can't help that I'm just that irresistible Bev my dear," Richie told her flippantly.

Bev just rolled her eyes and continued dabbing the thick cover-up onto Eddie's neck. Eddie smacked Richie on the shoulder and glared at him.

"You are hardly irresistible you ass." Eddie told him.

"Eds! Darling you wound me!" Richie shrieked in a posh English voice. Eddie just rolled his eyes and winced as Beverly reached a particularly tender spot. She pulled her hand back and inspected her work.

"Alright, you should be fine. Can't even tell that there is anything there." She told them reassuringly. They were all hiding out in the girl’s downstairs bathroom while Beverly helped cover Richie and Eddie up from their night before.

"Thank you, dearest Bev, I don't know what we would've done without you," Richie told her.

"No problem Trashmouth. You owe me a cig."

"Consider it done."

Eddie just gave Beverly another thank you and went off to his classes. Richie had stayed behind to smoke with her in the janitors closet but Eddie had a test he had to pass.

Lunchtime rolled around and Eddie sat in his usual spot with all the other losers and listened to Stan and Richie bicker back and forth about Mr. Henson and when he was going to die.

"I'm telling you, that bastard is so fucking old he's turning to dust as we speak! He's going to be dead by the end of the week," Richie defended.

"You're full of shit," Stan told him dryly.

"Are you really betting on a teacher’s life guys?" Mike cut in, looking amused with his friends. Richie nodded and jumped into a large explanation as to why it was important to discuss the mortality of their beloved teachers. Stan lost interest and started a conversation with Bill, and Ben and Beverly were at the end of the table holding hands and talking about their plans for the weekend.

Eddie was leaning against Richie's side and playing with the hem of the other boy's shirt. He was smiling to himself and grinned even wider when Richie put his arm around Eddie instinctively. Eddie was content, he was happy. He loved his friends, he loved his boyfriend, he loved how his life was going. He was truly happy, despite the events of a few years ago, despite the nightmares and his mother’s continual smothering of him, he was happy.

He stayed happy until the last bell of the day rang, and he met Ben in the parking lot. Richie walked him out to Ben's car as usual and kissed him goodbye and assured him he'd be by later that night. Eddie got in Ben's car a blushing mess and mumbled a halfhearted shut up to Ben, who was smiling from ear to ear. Ben dropped Eddie off at home and Eddie walked up to his front door still smiling. He walked in, set down his bag and turned to see his mother, standing in their living room, holding Richie's crumpled t-shirt.

"What was this doing under your bed Eddie?" She asked, her voice scarcely above a whisper.

Eddie's heart dropped to somewhere around his ass. His hands immediately began to clam up and his mouth went dry. "Richie came over the other day and spilled food all over his shirt, he borrowed one of mine and threw that in my floor. I haven't given it back to him yet." Eddie lied.

"Richard is at least a foot taller than you. He could not fit into one of your shirts just as I couldn't. This doesn't even have food on it. What was it doing under your bed?” His mother pressed.

Eddie stayed silent.  


"That's what I feared. Mrs. Hutchins called me this morning, she said that a boy climbed down your drainpipe wearing nothing but boxers." His mother's face had shrunk and contorted until the look of disgust she wore mirrored a face that Eddie now only saw in his nightmares. Eddie faltered for words. Tears pricked at his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

"Eddie you're not to see this boy anymore. I thought Richard was bad enough when he was your friend but now..." She shook her head violently. "This is just too much for me to bear. Too much for you to bear."

Eddie stared at his mother. Slowly, ever so slowly, anger began to build in his chest. Anger at his mother, anger at the kids at school that called Eddie a fag and a queer whenever he walked through the halls with Richie. He was angry, so unbelievably angry. His mother, who had never done anything _but_ burden Eddie with her crying and manipulation and helicopter parenting had absolutely no fucking right to tell him what he could not bear. Zero. Zip. None. "His name is Richie, and I'll see him if I want." Eddie told her, his voice wavering only slightly.__

_ _

_ _"No, you will not. I do not care what you have to do Eddie. I will not have my only son be a..." her voice dropped to a hysterical whisper, "...a fag!"_ _

_ _

_ _That was the breaking point for him. Eddie shoved past her and up the steps to his room._ _

_ _

_ _"Eddie! Eddie! Eddie Kaspbrak!" His mother shrieked. Eddie ignored her and walked into his room and slammed the door._ _

_ _

_ _Richie was already there._ _

_ _

_ _He had a small box on his lap and his head was bent down, looking at it intently._ _

_ _

_ _"Richie?" Eddie asked carefully._ _

_ _

_ _Richie raised his head and revealed his blackened right eye and a deep gash along his forehead. "They kicked me out." He said softly._ _

_ _

_ _Eddie moved to sit beside Richie and he carefully touched the bloody gash on Richie's forehead. His wild black curls were plastered to his head with blood, and his glasses looked crooked, as if someone had stepped on them. Tears welled in Eddie's eyes and spilled over onto his cheeks._ _

_ _

_ _"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." Eddie cried._ _

_ _

_ _"Hey, hey enough of that, it's not your fault." Richie soothed. He took Eddie's face in his hands and forced Eddie to look at him. Even with a black eye and bloody gash and crooked glasses Richie still took Eddie's breath away. Richie pressed a soft kiss to Eddie's lips and Eddie felt that Richie was crying too. When they pulled away, Eddie rested his forehead on the bridge of Richie's nose, trying to avoid his cut._ _

_ _

_ _"Let's get out of here," Eddie whispered._ _

_ _

_ _"I agree; your room is a little dismal," Richie told him jokingly._ _

_ _

_ _"No, Richie I mean let’s get out of here. Out of Derry. Let's go somewhere really fucking far. With no demon child eating clowns, and none of our parents to hold us back." Eddie told Richie confidently._ _

_ _

_ _Richie looked at Eddie for a moment before nodding his head. "Alright. We'll take my truck. I've got enough saved for gas money to get us to at least Colorado."_ _

_ _

_ _Eddie smiled, "I like Colorado."_ _

_ _

_ _Richie smiled and took Eddie's hands in his own. "Colorado it is."_ _

_ _

_ _Around that time, Eddie's mother came pounding up the stairs screeching like a banshee._ _

_ _

_ _"Eddie! Eddie talk to me! I'm doing this for your own good! Eddie!!" She shrieked. She pounded on Eddie's locked door and Eddie flinched. He stood up and grabbed a bag from the floor of his closet and started throwing random shit in it. Shirts, shorts, underwear, a stick of deodorant. Anything he could fit. All the while his mother continued to shriek against his door. Eddie finally turned to Richie, ready to leave when he saw Richie was holding something. It was small and blue plastic, oblong in shape. And then it hit Eddie, it was his old inhaler. He hadn't used it since he was a freshman. He took it just for the hell of it and grabbed Richie's hand._ _

_ _

_ _"Come on."_ _

_ _

_ _Eddie went down the drainpipe first, helping Richie ease down and find his way. He was becoming increasingly dizzier and it was getting harder for him to stand. They got into Richie's truck and Eddie drove them to Beverly's aunt's house on the outskirts of Derry. When they got there, Beverly rushed them inside with minimal questions and helped Eddie fix up Richie's cut._ _

_ _

_ _Two hours later, with five more dollars under their belt, a first aid kit, a bag of cigarettes and some snacks they were on their way out of Bev's house. "This should last you a while. Probably not the whole drive though." Beverly told them. She kissed them both on the cheek and wished them good-bye and good luck. She hadn't asked why; she hadn't begged them to stay. Beverly was one of the losers that really understood what it was like to have shit parents. She understood needing to get out. She said she'd tell the other losers what happened, and that she was sure they would understand. Eddie knew they would._ _

_ _

_ _They drove off that evening in Richie's truck, facing the sunset and a life outside of Derry._ _

**Author's Note:**

> The title is taken from "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen which, to me, has big Reddie vibes. I just caught this, but I apologize for not tagging the usage of the f** slur in the description and in the story itself.


End file.
